Tag: Young Adult

Rebel Rising by Beth Revis is an excellently told tale about Jyn Erso’s life, set between the opening flashback of Rogue One and her being broke out of prison on Wobani by the Rebellion, while its Young Adult moniker should be ignored if that typically scares you away from a book because RR really highlights the harsher realities of the journey Jyn goes on. Continue reading “Canon Young Adult Novel Review: Rebel Rising”→

The Lucasfilm’s Publishing Writer’s Roundtable on Friday was a pleasant panel where we got to spend some time with various authors across various mediums and age-ranges of material discussing their process and writing for Star Wars. It all ended with a bang, as the Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi initiative was announced (a similar program was in place for The Force Awakens), where hints for the new film will be hidden in the Phasma novel by Deliah S. Dawson, the Captain Phasma comic mini-series by Kelly Thompson, Leia: The Princess of Alderaan YA novel by Claudia Gray (!!), and Ken Liu’s (!!!) The Legends of Luke Skywalker, and much more! Details within and some additional insights from the Del Rey panel Saturday as well.

Ahsoka, by E.K. Johnston, is a YA novel that sheds a little light on the fan favorite eponymous character’s life post-The Clone Wars, pre-Star Wars Rebels. Johnston captures reader engagement with an excellent portrayal of Ahsoka Tano, dream character meetings, and a small focus, though that focus, the book’s pacing, and some questionable compositional choices do hinder the overall experience. Overall, Ahsoka fans or people looking for a quick and fun Star Wars book shouldn’t be deterred though, as there is still plenty to enjoy despite the flaws. Continue reading “Canon Young Adult Novel Review: Ahsoka”→

Serving as both a companion piece to the original trilogy character-focused YA novels from “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and the film itself, Before the Awakening (written by Greg Rucka, art by Phil Noto) fleshes out the three new highly entertaining and enjoyable leads of the new trilogy, Finn, Rey, and Poe. Overall BtA doesn’t change our perceptions of the characters, but it deepens the strong character work done for them in the film as well as explain the state of the galaxy a little more than the film cared to. Any fan of The Force Awakens and these three new leads should take the time to read their stories within Before the Awakening. Continue reading “Canon Young Adult Novel Review: Star Wars: Before the Awakening”→

Lost Stars is a YA novel in the “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” line of books and comics, written by Claudia Gray. While the novel comes off as fan-fiction and a little too melodramatic at times (as one might fear a Young Adult novel might), those things actually make Lost Stars that much stronger, giving the original parts not centered on moments from the movies a lot to build on and build up, both for the characters and the galaxy at large. In fact, it’s such an enjoyable ride it might even be better than some of the adult novels we’ve gotten so far. Continue reading “Canon Young Adult Novel Review: Star Wars: Lost Stars”→

The Weapon of a Jedi is a Luke Skywalker-centric YA novel in the “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” initiative, set between Ep. IV and V, written by Jason Fry with art by Phil Noto. Having read The Weapon of a Jedi last amongst the Big Three focused novels, I have to say Luke’s falls somewhere in the middle, as it has the light, fun adventure of Smuggler’s Run, but it also gets close to the level of introspective for its lead character as Moving Target did. With one of better Luke characterizations in recent memory (alongside the current on-going comics) and intriguing, thought-provoking Force training, The Weapon of a Jedi is the best Luke focused novel of the new canon, though it falters a little with the maybe too mysterious Sarco Plank. Continue reading “Canon Young Adult Novel Review: Star Wars: The Weapon of a Jedi – A Luke Skywalker Adventure”→

Moving Target is a Leia-centric YA novel in the “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” initiative, set between Ep. V and VI, co-authored by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry, with artwork from Phil Noto. While the term YA might conjure up fears and prejudices, Moving Target should not be missed thanks to its solidly written Leia, overall enjoyable tale, and rather adult subject matter covering topics like the costs of always just fulfilling your duty and sacrificing a few to save many. Continue reading “Canon Young Adult Novel Review: Star Wars: Moving Target – A Princess Leia Adventure”→